Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 4,127,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,226,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LYG. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 14.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,280,034 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,154,000 after acquiring an additional 2,472,263 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 58.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,659,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,778,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456,914 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 58.3% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,703,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,316,000 after purchasing an additional 627,592 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 3,120.8% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 640,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,741,000 after purchasing an additional 620,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group during the third quarter worth about $1,405,000. 2.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LYG. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Lloyds Banking Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Lloyds Banking Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lloyds Banking Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $2.75.

Lloyds Banking Group Stock Performance

NYSE:LYG opened at $3.78 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $3.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.02. Lloyds Banking Group plc has a 52-week low of $2.42 and a 52-week high of $3.91. The company has a market cap of $57.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.44 and a beta of 1.25.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $9.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.76 billion. Lloyds Banking Group had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 11.45%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 0.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $0.1035 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a yield of 4%. This is a boost from Lloyds Banking Group’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05. Lloyds Banking Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.61%.

About Lloyds Banking Group

Lloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates in three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance, Pensions and Investments. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, and credit cards to personal customers.